Chapter 4: The Gala Where Everything Changed

Nilah pov

At exactly five the dress arrived.

I stood in my childhood bedroom staring at it for a full minute before I even dared to touch it.

Midnight blue, floor length with a neckline that dipped just low enough to say ‘I know exactly what I’m doing’ and a slit that climbed too high up on one thigh, it was the kind of dress that didn’t just fit the body but made a statement about the person wearing it.

A small note slipped from the envelope when I lifted it.

“You’ll look perfect in it, see you tonight”

No signature, but I could tell it was him.

I should have canceled, that was the sensible thing to do, I had woken up this morning telling myself just that. The agreement last night had been a decision of a woman in shock, soaking wet at the roadside, watching her already ruined day collapse completely and this morning I had to undo everything.

But still I put on the dress.

I stood in front of the mirror, the same mirror I had twirled in front of as a teenager dreaming about the life I would build for myself, the typical being a savage business owner and meeting the man of my dreams, and definitely making a name for myself.

Teenage me didn’t look like someone’s disappointed wife or a woman who had pressed her face into a pillow crying while her husband showered off another woman’s perfume, I had looked like someone who knew what I wanted.

~~~~

Staring at the well-known Maron hotel under the evening sky, it felt like something out of a film. It looked almost all glass with golden lights, valets mingling in red uniforms under the red carpet that stretched from the curb to the entrance.

Photographers cluster near the doors, cameras raised, waiting for the next person to walk through.

My stomach dropped as the car I was in came to a stop, the chauffeur opened the door and offered his hand without a word, it seems it wasn’t his first time helping women in expensive dresses step out of expensive cars. I took it, stood, and smoothed my dress with my hand with one breath.

“This isn’t your first social outing Nilah, you can do this,” I mumbled under my breath.

I walked to the library lounge on the second floor, it was dim and warm, all dark wood panels and warm leather armchairs that smelled like old money. I spotted Darien immediately. He stood near the window with his back partially turned, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass he wasn’t drinking from. The tux fit him the way expensive things always fit people like him… effortlessly.

He turned when he heard my heels on the floor, his expression shifted, it wasn’t the typical practiced appreciation men feigned to tease a woman, it looked almost involuntary and genuine.

“Nilah.” He called my name.

“You look like you weren’t expecting me to show up.” I pressed my lips together.

“I was sixty percent you wouldn’t.”   The corner of his mouth lifted, “I’m glad the other forty won.”He crossed the room, offering his arm to me, he watched me carefully, I suddenly remembered the way Marcus used to look at me, slightly distracted by something else. Darien looked directly at me like I was worth paying attention to.

It made me more nervous than the cameras outside.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Absolutely not,” I replied honestly, digging my nails into my palm lightly.

“Well, I’m here.” He smiled at that and led me towards the ballroom.

I had expected a dinner setting, not a whole gala. The grand ballroom was getting filled, I hadn’t been to such an event since I married Marcus and now that I was here, it filled me with nostalgia. A low tune played in the background, chattering could be heard as people spoke to each other with a practiced laughter that always kept me uneasy…. How fake.

I lightened my grip on Darien's arm.

“My mother will find us within ten minutes,” Darien said quietly near my ear. “She has a thing for getting under my skin.”

“Anything I needn’t know about her?”

“She’s pretty normal when she wants to be and she's been trying to arrange my future since I became an adult.” He rolled his eyes with a smile, paused, and continued. “She’ll definitely like you, that might actually complicate things.”

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that when I felt my neck prickle like someone was watching me.

I shifted my gaze in the direction without turning fully to reduce suspicions. Across from us near the champagne display, I saw him holding a glass for himself and twirling it lightly, he looked just the same… of course, he did. Three years of marriage and one night of divorce couldn’t change the way someone stood.

But… she was with him.

Vanessa’s red dress caught the chandelier light as she laughed at something Marcus said, her hand resting on his arm in a way someone could tell they were together.

They look like the perfect image Marcus wanted.

The old me who had spent three years trying to make herself smaller and quieter would have found a corner and stayed in it, hoping I was only overthinking what I saw while dealing with the ache in my heart.

Instead, I smiled lightly, lifting my chin and turning back to Darien. “Don’t look now,” I said quietly. “But my ex-husband is literally thirty feet away with the woman he left me for.”

Darien’s expression didn’t change. “Do you want to leave?”

“No.” I smiled. “I want him to see me and feel every single thing I felt this past three years.

Darien stared at me for a moment, placed his free hand over mine where it rested on his arm, a warm gesture. “Then let’s give him something to feel.” He winked.

Arching my brows, he turned me around, approaching them.

We hadn’t taken three steps before Marcus got to us

He was good at this, putting you on your toes and reacting before you get the chance to recuperate.

“Nilah.” His eyes glinted with… not guilt, nor anger, something between the two. Then his gaze shifted to Darien, his jaw clenched. “I didn’t expect to see you here”

“Clearly .” I shrugged.

“She really has no shame,” Vanessa spoke from behind his shoulder, her voice sweet yet stung like poison. “Divorced and already on someone’s arm, how remarkably fast, seems you can’t survive without a man.”

Darien spoke before I could. “It’s interesting.” He sounded bored. “That you’re standing here commenting on her choices when she spent the last three years choosing you and yet you kept choosing someone else.” He looked at Marcus with a particular calmness that was unsettling. “You don’t have opinions about what she does next, you destroyed that.”

Marcus’s jaw tightened. “Stay out of things that don't concern you.”

“She concerns me,” Darien replied. “Which makes it my business.”

“How touching.” Marcus scoffed, his eyes cold. “Tell me, does she know the kind of man you are? Because I do.”

“You know something about me.” Darien leaned closer, seeming more interested but seemed to scorn him. “What I do know is that I’ve never made a woman feel invincible in her own life which puts me considerably ahead of you.

Marcus looked at me, probably the longest he had ever done, staring back at him. I caught a glimpse of regret or perhaps I was overthinking this.

Too late for that.

“Let’s go.” I turned to Darien. And said quietly.

We walked away, I kept my eyes forward and my shoulders straight. For the first time in years, I felt on top of the world seeing that look on his face.

We had barely reached the center of the room when a woman walked to Darien. She was beautiful, her hair swept her shoulders elegantly, jewelry that gave off that old money vibe and her eyes looked exactly like that of Darien… There was no denying that they were mother and son.

She looked at me, scrutinizing every detail like she was making a read of me within seconds, something I noticed wealthy people did to know if you were worth talking to them.

“Darien.” She touched his arm, her eyes stopped on me. “You’ve been avoiding me all evening.”

“I’ve been occupied.” He explained.

“I can see that.” She smiled carefully. “And who’s your guest?”

“This is Nilah.” He gestured his hand towards me. “She’s with me tonight.”

His mother frowned. “Does Nilah know you’re getting engaged? That your father and I have agreed we can’t fall back on?” Her voice held a tinge of anger yet it remained calm. “It would be terribly unfair to her, whatever ‘this’ is, if she didn’t know the full picture.”

I felt tense.

I opened my mouth to say something to save us from this situation.

My father’s voice, from the podium at the far end of the room, so clear that I couldn't mistake it, every guest began to be silent.

“Good evening, for those who don’t know, I am Victor Mariel.” Applause rippled through the crowd. “Tonight is particularly special for my family. My daughter has returned home and it's time to formalize something my wife and I have been planning for some time.” he paused. “Joining two great families.”

Heads followed my father’s gaze as his eyes searched for something and … landed on me.

Darien’s mother turned to look at me slowly, then her son and back at me, her composure practically cracked in disbelief.

“You’re Victor Mariel's daughter?” It wasn't a question.

“Everyone was still looking around to see us, my father stared at me smiling proudly, one he hadn't done since I ran away from home to marry that dickhead. I could feel my hands sweating with nervousness.

Darien turned to me slowly. “Nilah.” His voice was quiet. “What exactly is your last name?”

Scratch that, who the hell was I getting married to?